


The Wisteria Vine

by PenMeetsPage (WasntThereYesterday)



Category: Brother and Sister (Grimm's Fairy Tales), Fairy Tales & Related Fandoms
Genre: Pregnancy, considerably less murder than the original story, magically significant but slightly creepy flowers, no one in this story has a name
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-17
Updated: 2019-05-17
Packaged: 2020-03-07 00:27:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18862030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WasntThereYesterday/pseuds/PenMeetsPage
Summary: Every night the child wept aloud and babbled unhappily, long into the night. So the girl sat by the cradle and spoke and sang softly, hoping to soothe the babe, but to no avail: the child would not be comforted. By-and-by the girl grew weary, and her head drooped upon her breast, and she slept. About midnight–not perhaps on the stroke of midnight, for there were no bells which could carry so far from town to the house in the garden–the girl half woke, and saw a curious sight: The window opened just a crack, and the wind blew, and four pale sweet blooms of wisteria bent into the room...(You know the second half of "Brother and Sister," with the baby and the imposter and the ghost and the ominous rhymes? That story, but with less murder and more flowers.)





	The Wisteria Vine

Once there was an enchanter, a laughing lady who loved to walk in gardens and sing stories to her truelove; but he was swept away to Faerie to wander for a year and a day, in vengeance for a good deed he had once done which had inconvenienced the Queen. So the lady’s laughter was stayed for a while, but still she went walking in the gardens and sang stories to the child growing in her. And the nursery which she and her truelove had built she filled with story-books.

Now there was in those parts another enchanter, powerful and grave, and she coveted all that the lady had and was; for she was trusted by no one, on account of her many wicked deeds, and could nowise harm anyone except by stealth. She desired to be invited into places from which she was barred, and to be so trusted that others would accept food and drink from her, so that they would be in her power.

Therefore she went to the house in the garden while the lady was still weak from delivering her babe, and left on the stoop a casserole, which the lady gratefully ate, supposing it to be the gift of a kind neighbor. And when she had eaten of it, the grave enchanter entered into the house, and took hold of the lady, and cast her into the trunk of the wisteria vine that grew up the side of the house and around the windows, taking for herself the appearance and much of the power of the lady.

Then she lay in the bed of the lady, and plotted many plots, which she intended to carry out with this new power and disguise. And she conversed but little and only in a weak voice with the friends of the true lady, who took it in turns to visit and care for the babe and the false lady. Day by day many of them fell into the power of the false lady by means of the food with which she filled the house. So their eyes grew dull and they could not see true things, and they questioned nothing, not even the strange unease of the babe, who babbled unhappily all day and would not be comforted. But every night the wisteria vine grew nearer to the nursery window.

One day a certain girl came to care for the babe and the false lady, who had from time to time sought a little teaching in magic from the true lady. But she alone of the visiting friends did not eat of the tainted food, for unlike the true lady, the impostor did not ensure that the food she provided had among it dishes which all guests could bear to eat: and lo, all the spread was made with flour from wheat, and the girl could not eat it. So when night fell her eyes were clear. And wisteria bloomed at all the windows, making the air by every open window sweet.

When the false lady retired to bed, the girl went to the nursery to watch the babe; for by now every night the child wept aloud and babbled unhappily, long into the night. And the girl sat by the cradle and spoke and sang softly, hoping to soothe the babe, but to no avail: the child would not be comforted. By-and-by the girl grew weary, and her head drooped upon her breast, and she slept.

About midnight–not perhaps on the stroke of midnight, for there were no bells which could carry so far from town to the house in the garden–the girl half woke, and saw a curious sight:

The window opened just a crack, and the wind blew, and four pale sweet blooms of wisteria bent into the room. And between one slow blink and the next, there stood the true lady. She went to the cradle, and took up the babe in her arms, and fed him. Then she laid him back down, shook out the blanket, and covered him with it. Bending down to kiss him once on the forehead, she went in perfect silence back to the wisteria blossoms at the window, and was gone.

After a little while the girl shook herself to full wakefulness, and went over to the window to look out. It was shut tight, but just outside was a single branch with not four, but three long pale blooms of wisteria flowers. And the babe was sleeping soundly, and the whole room was filled with the sweet scent of the flowers.

The next night the girl offered to come again to care for the false lady and the babe for the evening; and again the babe wept aloud, and babbled sadly, and would not be comforted, until at midnight the same curious sight appeared:

The window opened just a crack, and the wind blew, and three pale sweet blooms of wisteria bent into the room, and the true lady appeared. She went to the cradle, and took the babe in her arms, fed him, and laid him back down; she shook out the blanket, and covered him with it. And at no time did she look to the chair by the door where the girl sat. But this time she murmured:  
_My child, my friends, twice more I’ll see;  
   Twice more I’ll come, and then the end must be._

And she bent over the cradle to kiss the babe on the forehead, and she went back to the wisteria blossoms leaning in the window, and was gone; but when the girl shook herself to full wakefulness and went to look out the window, the nearest branch held not three, but two long pale blooms. The babe was sleeping soundly, and the whole room was filled with the sweet scent of the flowers.

The next night, the girl offered to come again to care for the false lady and the babe for the evening. But her eyes were clear and her thoughts also when she departed from the house, and she went to ask the advice of a wise person she knew, who by reason of their duties had not yet taken a turn visiting the house in the garden to care for the babe and the false lady, nor had yet eaten of the tainted food. And they were dismayed, for by seeing the true lady her time had grown short, but with the true lady’s true love wandering in Faerie for a year and a day, and the babe too young to speak, who could claim her and name her to release her from what must be a curse?

When the girl, much dismayed at hearing this, went to the house in the garden for the evening, she thought deeply on these matters. And like the babe, she was troubled, and could not sleep; but at midnight the same curious sight appeared:

The window opened just a crack, and the wind blew, and two pale sweet blooms of wisteria bent into the room, and the true lady appeared. She went to the cradle, took up the babe and fed him, held him a little while, and laid him back down, shaking out the blanket to cover him with it. And still she did not look to the chair by the door where the girl sat. But this time, she murmured:  
_My child, my friends, once more I’ll see;  
   Once more I’ll come, and then the end must be._

And she bent over the cradle to kiss the babe on the forehead, and went back to the wisteria blossoms leaning in the window, and was gone. When the girl stood to go and look out the window, she saw not two, but only one long pale bloom remaining on the branch. And the babe was sleeping soundly, and the whole room ass filled with the sweet scent of the flowers. Yet it seemed to her that the scent was fainter than before. 

So all the day following the girl sought a way to release the true lady from her curse, and from the prison of the wisteria vine. She looked in the town and she looked in the country; she listened to tales and she looked in books; she found tales that were new, and tales that were old; and some of the tales she found were those that she recognized from the story-books with which the lady had filled the nursery.

But nowhere did she find a way to break the sort of curse this seemed to be, except by finding someone to claim and to name the unfortunate person. Nor did she find any other blood relative of the true lady, except the story of the truelove who was wandering in Faerie, and the babe who could not yet speak. Yet she was not wholly cast down, she found tales wherein sisters released each other from curses, and tales where true companions did the same; and therefore it seemed to her that relations other than those of blood or truelove might also have power, if they had also sufficient claim and love. And since she could find no other help, she resolved to make an attempt, since this night must be the lady’s last.

The next night, the girl came once more to care for the false lady and the babe for the evening; and again the babe wept aloud, and babbled unhappily, and would not be comforted, until at midnight the same curious sight appeared:

The window opened just a crack, and the wind blew, but very softly. One pale sweet bloom of wisteria bent into the room, and the true lady appeared. She went to the cradle and took the babe in her arms again, fed him and rocked him a little while, and laid him back down. She shook out the blanket and covered him with it; but when she murmured,  
    _My child, my friends, no more I’ll see;  
__This once I come, but now–_

The girl sprang up from the chair by the door where she sat, crying out, “You are none other than my excellent teacher and my friend!” Then the true lady answered, “Yes, I am your teacher and your friend,” and at once the wind blew very strongly indeed, and there was a great  _crack!_  from the wisteria vine at the window. And (though she slept and knew it not) the false lady lying in the next room at once lost her stolen appearance, and the power she had taken returned to the true lady.

Then the lady, who was still-and-again an enchanter, said to the girl: “I think I had better go on teaching you, and more than the little tricks for health and helping bread rise without wheat. For the wisdom to unmake curses is no small advantage for a young enchanter; and after all you have named yourself my student even from the little magics I taught you–so if you will, I shall also make you my apprentice.”

Then she went out of the nursery to drive out the grave enchanter. And the lady and her apprentice spent many days afterward undoing the mischief and wickedness which the grave enchanter had done while she had the lady’s appearance and power. And they bound up the crack in the wisteria vine, and it healed over and went on growing around the windows. 

They made plans also to seek out the lady’s truelove when his year-and-day of wandering was ended; but that is another story, and they lived happily till then.

**Author's Note:**

> Original notes from Tumblr: "entirely unedited messy bit of faux-fairy tale banged out on a slow day at work. contains traces of ‘Brother and Sister’ (Grimm), couple concepts from that Trollhunters fic I never wrote but thought about writing, and at least one dnd character I did not end up using."


End file.
